Looking at getting a .22 LR semi-auto pistol. Has to be s/s. For plinking, small game and camp varmints.

Looking at these three:

* Browning Buck Mark Plus
* Ruger MK IV
* S&W SW22

Any recommendation.? The Ruger is the most expensive and I've shot these before.

I know which way I lean.....

This is a fun Gun. The wife enjoys it as much as I do.

I like the Rugers...

I bought the Victory just before the Mk IV came out. Have it tricked out like Don’s, save for the can and fancy handles. Great pistol thus far. The Ruger would probably suit me as well, but IIRC it’s a good bit spendier, even with the extra parts on the Smith.

I'd buy an older MK2.

While not in the same league as your choices, I’ve had a lot of enjoyment from my Glock 44.

I have 2 Rugers, a MKII and a MKIV Hunter. I love them both.

I prefer my Rugers but honestly all 3 mentioned are good guns. Have you handled all 3? I'd go that route first see which feels best .

I've had a Ruger since the 60 s.

S&W 2206.

Ruger mark II is me favorite. I also have a Mark III but the Mark II is better. I have heard some bad issues with the Mark IV. We have several people in our gun club with the S&W Victory, some have dependability problems. Brownings can be very finicky also.

I have had Rugers. I have a Buckmark now. I like it better.

ruger slab side

MuskegMan: I own and shoot all of the three pistols you are interested in and, by a couple of whiskers, I would recommend the stainless Ruger MK-IV Hunter with 5 1/2" barrel or the Ruger MK-IV Target with 5 1/2" barrel.
I have red dot sights on my MK-IV Hunter and my MK-IV Target and their accuracy and function afield leaves NOTHING to be desired!
Best of luck to you with whichever you choose.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

It looks like you put on a flat trigger - what possessed you to do that?

Muskegman,

Don's trigger looks to be a TK trigger... can't speak for the S&W model, but the Ruger version is adjustable for pre & post travel. And I prefer the flat trigger.

I've been carrying one of the Ruger Marks for the last forty years. I agree the Mark 2 is better than the Mark 3, But I'm a fan of the Mark 4... due to the easy take-down and the ambidextrous safety (I shoot left handed, so there's a good reason for the bias).


My son, daughter and I all have Ruger Mark IV's, the only problem is the factory trigger IMO sucks, just checked them all tonight and my daughter's which is factory, is 4 1/2 pounds. I put VQ trigger kits in my son's and mine, which gives it a 2 1/2 pound trigger pull... but you're talking another ~$120 for the kit.

I believe Don has all three(?), if so maybe he'll expound on why he thinks the S&W victory is the best of the lot.

Jerry

I said Victory because MM said it had to be SS. I prefer the Buckmark, of his choices, but the UDX don't have many options in stainless. Not a fan of the rugers even tho they're good stuff.

Have only handled the S&W and shot a friend's at the range a little bit, it's a good pistol with a decent trigger but a bit heavy.

The Mark IV Rugers are getting a reputation for crappy triggers. Mine was horrible - heavy, long and gritty. It needed a Volquartsen accurizing kit to clean it up which added a hundred bucks or more to the price, but now that the trigger is good it's a great pistol; reliable, accurate and easy to clean. As a plus, if you ever wanted to get a different model you can find different uppers for sale at a lot lower price than a new pistol and switch back and forth in a few seconds.

Had a total of one Buck Mark but can't find anything negative to say about it - it was accurate and had a good trigger. It never had reliability issues but it was only fed good CCI ammo, no bulk junk, and again, sample of one.

As much as I like my Rugers the Browning will probably check the most boxes right out of the box.

I would slap a Marvel unit 1 on the 1911 that you already have and call it a day. Taylor tactical for mag followers to give you 15 round mags.

All good choices. I have or have had all 3. My favorites are the Rugers. I have a MK II, MK III and 2 MK IVs. The MK II and IVs are my favorites. The takedown on the MK IV is so nice and spoils you. I have a Performance Center Victory and its a real nice shooter. Has an awesome trigger for a stock pistol. I don't like the allen key takedown on it though. One that you might want to add to your list would be a vintage Hi Standard. They are great shooters as well.

Generally guys that really like Rugers, prefer them over the Browning and vise versa. This is an age old debate because guys are always arguing about which one is the best. Personal experience from when I was a kid is still engrained in my memory banks, from the Buckmark my dad always shot. It malfunctioned all the time. However he did not like to take it apart and clean it.

When I became old enough, I always had a Ruger mk2 pistol of some sort. Whether it be a govt. model, slab side, target, or the standard model. One thing I can say about the Ruger is it functions without hiccup, even when it has not been cleaned in a while. There are guys that say the Ruger is a PITA to take apart and clean. The other day I had my girlfriend time me to see how long it took to clean each pistol. A Ruger MK2 stainless heavy barrel target model and my dad's old Buckmark.

The Ruger requires no tools for disassembly. The Browning required a screwdriver. The Ruger took 2 minutes and 38 seconds to clean. The Browning took 9 minutes and 45 seconds to clean. Had I been in the field and not had a screwdriver, the browning would be left dirty and functioning like crap. Because as soon as it gets dirty, it starts having issues.

As for the triggers. Ruger had a very good reputation for a nice smooth trigger in the Mk2's, then by the time the MK4's came along you start hearing about how bad the Ruger triggers are. This is some of the reason I, and several club members, always recommend a MK2. Because guys tend to badmouth the Ruger triggers, I checked mine the other day and it was 2 1/4 pounds and very consistent. Then I checked my slab side, that is still like new. Pull weight measured 2.5 pounds on that one and very smooth. I had always heard the Browning trigger is better. I checked my dad's old Browning and it weighed right at 2 1/4 pounds as well. All triggers tested are very nice. No negatives that I saw.

Through accuracy testing, the Browning hangs right in there with the Mk2's. After a complete teardown and cleaning, the Browning functioned almost flawlessly. As it did have 3 ftf out of 100 rounds fired. The Ruger had no issues and digested 200 rounds that day.

With this being said, I saw a very nice stainless Browning Buckmark at the LGS the other day. Between that and the Ruger MK4, I would probably also choose the Browning. However, the older MK2 would be the one I'd buy, if all 3 were in the same display case. However, some guys have a propensity against buying used, and somehow think a brand new rifle or pistol is better. Most times they are not.

Ruger, Browning, or S&W Victory are all good.

why are you timing how long it takes to clean a pistol?

The Ruger MK II was probably the epitome of the breed out of the box. The Mark III was one step forward and two steps back. They drilled and tapped all the receivers - step forward - but then put a dumb looking loaded chamber indicator on it and a magazine safety, the latter being detrimental to the trigger pull. They did move the magazine release to the "proper" place but I had no complaints with where it was.

I have to say my current Mark IV is my favorite .22 pistol but it took some mods to get there. The Volquartsen trigger upgrade was an absolute requirement, and it had a lot of failures to fire with Federal Automatch. The firing pin on the Mark IV comes to a smaller point and hits less surface area of the cartridge rim. Putting in a Volquartsen firing pin with a larger, more squared off tip solved the problem, the new firing pin being identical in profile to the ones in the older Mark III.

But now it has a great trigger, is very reliable, and I can switch from a 6" lightweight barrel to a 5.5" target barrel in about 20 seconds, so two guns in one. And if I wanted, there are other uppers out there that would all work just fine using the already optimized grip frame and bolt.


That said, I try to be objective about things, especially when making recommendations to someone. A lot of folks really like their Buckmark pistols and I had no issues with mine at all, it was a fine pistol right out of the box, no extra parts or mods needed. For someone who doesn't want to add more money or mess around to get a pistol to where it should be, the Buckmark would be the way to go. The Victory would be good as well but I was surprised at how heavy it was compared to the other two.

All in my not at all humble and highly valued opinion, of course.

Here's a pic of the Volquartsen firing pin on the left and the Mark IV OEM part on the right. You can see how much more surface area is struck by the Volquartsen aka Mark III style pin.

I currently have two Brownings and a S&W, if I had to only keep one it would be the S&W. I like the trigger better and it shoots lights out. I have nothing bad to say about the Brownings either and have never owned a Ruger but know guys love them. Try to handle all 3 and I bet one of them will stand out to you. Good Luck!

Jim in Idaho: What problem are YOU trying to/did solve with the larger surface Volquartsen firing pin?
I never recall a 22 L.R. cartridge failing to detonate in ANY of my Ruger MK-1's, MK-II's, MK-III's or MK-IV's! And I fire many hundreds of those cartridges per year through those pistols.
And this - the triggers on my 3 Ruger MK-IV's work fine for me on Ground Squirrels as I have laser ranged confirmed kills with them out to 75 yards (red dot sight aided).
I have installed LOTS of Volquartsen "upgrade" parts on various Rifles but have as yet to do such on any of my Ruger MK pistols - convince me - I foresee a long winter here in Montana and need some projects.
TIA
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I had the Ruger, I have a Buckmark. Much prefer the Browning.

If you want to spend the bucks, there is nothing like Volquartsen.

Those Tandemkross triggers are just excellent, well worth the modest cost and considerable (for me) trouble to install. I wasn’t sure about the loop on the slide, but it really helps. Their red dot mount was originally for the Fastfire pattern, but now they offer a more universal version.

I look at other .22 pistols, but the Victory does everything I can possibly need, so another would be excess.

Looks good, might even make Federals more better…..

A recently acquired $200 Smith 22A on a rest at 25 yards. Local pawn shop has the shorter barreled version for $220. A dead reliable shooter.

That was the whole reason for replacing the firing pin, to let the pistol shoot Federal Automatch reliably. Usually if an Automatch round misfired it could be turned 180 degrees and it would go off on the second strike, but it got to be a PITA to do that once and sometimes twice each magazine.

Now a fellow could just use different ammo but somehow or other I ended up with three cases of the stuff so figured a new firing pin for a few bucks was worth the effort. That was replaced in January of this year and I'm happy to report that there have been almost no FTF's since then. There were a couple but those rounds were beyond help since they didn't fire even after hitting them in three different places around the rim.

Ruger Mark IV Hunter here.

I have all three and love them all, my Browning did take a break in period, the other two ran right out of the box but all three are very good.

Have two Ruger mk 2 targets with VQ stuffings (competition trigger kits +), a Browning bullseye, a Browning field target, a S&w victory, and some others.

Frankly, I think your three choice are all quality pistols that could serve you well. Choosing between your three options, I'd try to handle them all, read up on them, and see how easily they break down to clean, etc. It'll be more about which one works best for you.

I have High Standard and Ruger. This suppressed Mk III has a custom trigger job. I used a Clark steel trigger and Volquartsen parts to create a near perfect trigger. It has a trigger stop, breaks clean at about 2.5#'s.

It shoot subsonics very well, is quiet enough that it won't bother deer. I take it deer hunting, put it in my pack for coons, squirrels, etc. The big red dot isn't pretty, but it works OK.

DF

I have a Mk III and a Buckmark and like them both. It’s easier for me to shoot the Ruger accurately. Therefore, in my exceptionally irrational way, I hung a Burris scope on the Buckmark and have a great time with it .

I’m a big fan of the Rugers.

They’re hard to beat for the price.

And trigger jobs aren’t that hard. Just get good parts and go for it. At least there are lots of aftermarket products out there, more than any other pistol.

DF

I would go Mark III, Buckmark and Mark II and in that order. Never owned an SW22 but may have to try one. I had one Mark IV. Shot 50 or 100 through it and don't plan to get another.

I like the older models, High Standard Sport King and Colt Woodsman.

Of the newer guns the Ruger MkVI or 22/45 would get my vote.

Your thoughts on the Mk IV.

DF

I shoot a pretty high grip. The controls are in the way on the Mark IV. Ruger could've done a better job of thinking through where they placed those. Mark III does not have that issue and all of my IIIs have good, crisp triggers.

My Mk III has a great trigger cause I made it that.

Amazing what’s available for those guns. Clark and Volquartsen parts go a long way to perfection. Takes some patience and time. I didn’t use it, but You Tube can help with about any chore.

DF

Where did your Mark III start out pull wise? Mine have all been 3-4 pounds and crisp and I've just shot them. My most used one is factory stock and probably under 3 and crisp. Not sure if it was heavier when new but its got close to 20 years use and a few tens of thousands of rounds.

My dad is also a Mark III fan, but has Volquartsen triggers in all of his. I can't tell much difference. Maybe a little lighter pull with the aftermarket. I've never asked him why he runs the aftermarket triggers as opposed to factory in his Mark IIIs. I may have lucked out and gotten lighter triggers on mine.

In the ruger platform i only like the 22/45 pattern grip. It points so much better for me. The regular Ruger grip has to much rake in it to be of any comfort. My two cents!

No experience with the S&W or the Browning and the Ruger's never fit my hand . I have an old Colt Pre Woodsman Target that shoots like a rifle. I'd find a first model Woodsman with the high speed mainspring housing and call her done.